Empower your markdown. Notate is a cross-platform markdown editor and note-taking app for macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and web.
Free to download, no account required.
Let hikers download a region and navigate with
no signal, even miles from the
nearest bar of service. Tiles come from the
vector-tile
pipeline, so a saved region stays useful offline.
Decided in Sprint Planning – 2026-08-04.
Notate keeps every note as a plain markdown file in any folder you choose, readable by any editor, and always yours to keep. Sync and AI build on that concept, when you need them.
Free
Your notes, local.
Everything you need to write and organize, on your own machine. No account required, and every note stays a file you can open in any editor.
Learn moreSync
Your notes, everywhere.
One workspace across desktop, mobile, and the web. Offline edits reconcile the moment you reconnect, with optional end-to-end encryption.
Learn moreAI
Your notes, empowered.
Chat with your own notes, transcribe meetings, and search by meaning. Bring your own provider keys, or let Notate handle it.
Learn moreYour files Free
Notes you own,
in folders you choose
Every note is a standard markdown file in a real folder on your drive. Not a database, not a proprietary container. Open the same folder in any other editor and your notes are just there.
Point Notate at markdown you already have and it works immediately. If you ever stop using Notate, you keep everything.
Spec – Offline Maps.md
Spec – Elevation Profiles.md
Writing Free
A markdown editor that
gets out of the way
Headings, tables, checkboxes, and links render as you type, so you see the structure without leaving the text. Switch to raw markdown, a split view, or a clean preview whenever it suits.
Tables edit in a real grid, code blocks highlight for dozens of languages, and Mermaid diagrams render live in the note. It all stays plain markdown on disk.
Let hikers download a region and navigate with
no signal, even miles from the nearest
bar of service. Tiles are cached with the
vector-tile
pipeline so a saved region stays useful offline.
Decided in Sprint Planning – 2026-08-04; architecture in Architecture.
| Need | Detail |
|---|---|
| Download a region | Pick on map, size shown before save |
| Storage cap | Warn near the device limit |
Organizing Free
Find it later,
however you filed it
Folders and workspaces map to real directories, so the structure in the app is the structure on disk. Search runs across everything instantly, and tags and favorites cut across folders when the hierarchy is not enough.
Version history keeps earlier drafts, and deleted notes go to Trash first, so changing your mind is cheap.
Let hikers download a region and navigate with no signal, even miles from…
Offline maps are on track. Elevation profiles start this week…
Offline maps polish and beta prep.
Sync Sync plan
Sync your markdown notes
across every device
Write on your laptop, pick it up on your phone. Notate syncs across desktop, web, and mobile, and keeps working when you go offline. Changes reconcile the moment you reconnect.
Same notes, same folders, everywhere. How sync works.
Let hikers download a region and navigate with no signal, even miles from the nearest bar of service.
Offline maps on track. Elevation profiles start this week. Trail conditions moved up after the interviews.
Ten miles, patchy signal above the treeline. The download flow held up; storage warning never fired.
Privacy Sync plan
Synced, and
still only yours
Turn on end-to-end encryption and your notes are encrypted on your device before they sync. The server stores ciphertext it cannot read.
Your local files stay plain and portable. The encryption rides along with the sync, not with the files on your disk.
Security
Encrypt your notes so only your devices can read them.
Save your recovery phrase
These 24 words let you recover your cloud notes if you forget your password. Store them somewhere safe. Your local files on this device will always stay readable.
Connect Sync plan
Plug your notes into
the tools you use
Notate speaks the Model Context Protocol, so Claude, ChatGPT, or an agent you wrote yourself can search and organize your notes while you talk to it. You choose what it is allowed to do.
There is a command-line client too, for capture and scripting from the terminal. Explore MCP or the CLI.
- Decided: pick a region on the map, show its size before saving, and refresh tiles automatically once back online.
- Still open: whether the storage cap is per region or one global budget.
AI AI plan
An AI Assistant that
understands your notes
Ask questions in plain language and get answers drawn from your own workspace, with the notes it used linked so you can check every claim.
It can create, file, and organize notes for you, always asking first. See what the AI Assistant can do.
From your Product and Meetings notes:
- Decided: pick a region on the map, show its size before saving, and refresh tiles automatically once back online. Spec – Offline Maps1
- Still open: whether the storage cap is per region or one global budget. Sprint Planning – 2026-08-042
- Next: field test the offline flow this weekend, building on Field Notes – Cascades Loop3.
AI AI plan
Transcribe meetings
into markdown notes
Capture system audio and your microphone together. Notate transcribes live and surfaces related notes while the conversation is still happening.
Lectures and voice memos work the same way from your phone. You end up with a clean transcript and a summary, filed wherever you want. More on transcription.
Offline maps are on track. Maya has the region picker wired to the tile service, size preview is next. Devin landed the download estimate and starts elevation charts this week. Let's bump trail conditions ahead of photo waypoints
Common questions
What is Notate?
A markdown editor and note-taking app built on plain markdown files. Your notes live in ordinary folders on your device, in standard syntax any other markdown editor can open. Sync and AI are optional layers that live on top of your existing notes.
Do I need an account to use Notate?
No. Notate opens in Guest mode on desktop and mobile, with no sign-in and nothing uploaded. You only need an account if you want to sync across devices or use AI.
Are my notes really just files I own?
Yes. Notate reads and writes ordinary .md files in folders you choose. You can open, edit, back up, or move them with any other tool, and nothing about them depends on Notate being installed.
Your notes, your files, your devices.
Start local, and add sync and AI when you want them.
Free to download, no account required.